Pumpkins and Jack-o-Lanterns!!

First we went to a pumpkin patch and saw all the pumpkins!

It was hard to pick out just the right one, they all looked so good!

Some were too big

Some were too heavy

Some just made good drums

But then we found one that was just right!

Everything was so cool at the farm... someone was so not that interested in his pumpkin...

"I'd rather be exploring, guys!!'

Then this perfect little pumpkin became the perfect little baby Jack-o-lantern!

Lately...

I saw this on several blogs this morning and thought it was perfect for what I was planning on posting. There has been a lot of random things going on in our lives lately, and I haven’t posted in while, so time to catch up!

I’m Stealing…..time this weekend for myself. Neal doesn't know this yet, but I totally am taking some time to read and just be still. 

I’m Reading… Fevre Dream by George R.R. Martin. He’s the same dude that wrote the Game of Thrones books, which I devoured. This one, I’m not super into. It’s his take of a vampire novel, but it involves a steamboat on the Mississippi in the Civil War era and let’s just say there are a LOT of details about the boat, and boating, and how the boat works and how it make steam and how its built, and the boat’s so cool, and the boat’s so fast, and blah blah blah. We get it George. You like boats. Now let’s get to the juicy parts, shall we?

I’m Thinking About….how we've intended to carve Austin’s first pumpkin (he picked it out himself!) for the last several weeks and every night we end up not doing it. #slackers

I’m Loving…. Peggings. Those are pants that are tight and stretchy like leggings. So they aren’t Jeggings because they aren’t jeans, they are pants. So I dubbed them Peggings. Neal hates them. I love them and wear them and prance around in my Peggings and tell him tough luck and he’ll just have to not look at me in them because they are the most wonderful comfortable creation ever!

I’m Looking Forward To…. Thanksgiving. Four days off from my job which has been a madhouse of stress these last few months, and tons of food. I’m already mentally piling up my plate with what I want to eat. Is that weird? If it is, don’t tell me because I want to keep on doing it and dreaming about topping it all off with pumpkin pie. Mmmmmmmm.

I’m Wondering….why people like politics. (ok- my OPINIONS HERE PEOPLE, calm yourself)… because politics are such a game. New guy gets elected. Everyone gets all excited.. “he’s going to save the world!”.. the world doesn’t get saved because it’s a big ol’ mess that is going to take way longer than a few years to fix… people start getting mad at new guy… election time comes, some other new guy comes in and starts promising to fix problems… people get all excited about new guy…. And repeat. Don’t people realize politicians will say and promise us exactly what we want to hear to WIN? It’s all about WINNING and that’s it.  It’s such a game and people get so fired up about it and it kinda cracks me up. But then, I get fired up about Pictionary, so I guess I can understand.  

I’m Eating… anything with pumpkin. Because that’s what you do come Fall. Last weekend I made pumpkin muffins and this weekend I think these pumpkin snickerdoodles are begging to be made and then reside in my tummy.

Recipe here

I’m Disliking… all of the bodily function issues happening with the Glynn children. Austin is drooling all over the place, swallowing too much of it and puking over every surface and person he comes in contact with, Henry ate Olive’s food and had a massive vomit all over our bed, the floor and his bed, Olive hacked up a hair ball, and Henry got scared by a falling high chair tray and peed in the kitchen. And this all happened within 24 hours.

I’m Happy About… Life. (I know, gag me, right??) but its so easy to get down, or wish things were different or focus on the menial things that are not going well… that I’m trying extra hard to focus on the good and be happy about it. I think humans naturally re-evaluate their lives when Fall arrives and start realizing all they have to be thankful about. I have a house, a good job, I’m healthy, I have a great husband, a happy healthy thriving baby… so what if Austin wakes up crying at 2am and I really want sleep? Or some unexpected bill pops up? Or plans don’t work out the way they were “supposed” to? Gotta let go and just be happy about what is good.

I’m Excited About… celebrating Austin’s first Christmas. Wrestling him into cozy pajamas, having him help decorate destroy the tree, watching him play with his the wrapping paper toys… of the joy that is in store for us!!

Our tree last year. Probably the last time it will look this good, thanks to curious baby hands this year!

The Real Mama World #7- Roll Call

It was a typical Thursday night.

Neal was going to be home late because he had to run the high school’s concession stand for their football game that night.

I, not wanting to be home alone, went over to Kenzie’s house to hang out with her… Austin loves playing with Barrett, Kenzie and I get to talk, and I always take Henry with me because he has the biggest doggy-crush on their dog Trooper.

So the night goes by like most other nights.. babies laughing, dogs humping one another (ew)… Kenzie and I chatting..

Then 8pm hits and my kiddo starts to get cranky and Neal calls and says he’s on his way back to the house.

Time to head for home.

I pack up our diaper bag, clean up stray food, find my purse and keys and get my cranky baby out the door and strapped into his car seat.

I’m all ready to go, telling Austin to “shhhh…. Its ok, almost home and bedtime!” and totally focused on getting us in the car and home ASAP.

I’m about to pull out of the driveway when Kenzie comes rushing out of the house holding something.

“Wait! Do you want to take Henry home?”

I ALMOST FORGOT THE DOG!!!!!!

Poor Henry. He probably planned this with Trooper… I’d get distracted, Henry would blend in with the furnishings and by the time I realized Henry wasn’t with me, it would be too late and he’d get a slumber party with his BFF.

Nice try, Henry. Nice try.

Next time I leave to go anywhere and have both fur and human babies in tow, I’m doing roll call.

A Day in Our Lives

When I read other people’s blogs I love the posts that are about menial day-to-day things.. I don’t know why, I guess its just fun to see how other people live their lives, or where they live… things like that.

Maybe I’m just super nosy?

Probably. But whatever. I have other redeeming qualities, I swear.

So I thought I’ve give you a little glimpse into our lives….

A Typical Weekday in The House of Glynn

5:15am- my alarm goes off. It is an ear splitting techo-gone-bad tune on my cell phone that is placed across the room to force me out of bed in order to turn it off.

5:16am- alarm is off and I’m (shocker) back in bed.

5:25am- Neal’s alarm goes off and like a responsible human being, he is up out of bed instantly and taking Henry out to do his morning business. I’m still in bed.

5:30am- the snooze on Neal’s alarm goes off and I succumb to the reality that I must get out of bed at this point. I turn on the morning news and start my hair while Neal is downstairs having breakfast and watching morning SportsCenter.

5:45am- hair is done, I’m still in Neal’s bathrobe and usually planted in front of the TV checking out the weather and trying to put together possible outfits in my mind. Neal is finishing his breakfast and usually makes Austin’s bottles for the day.

5:50am- Time to wake the beast, I mean, baby. Neal usually gets to him first because I’m finishing my make-up and getting dressed. I hear Austin’s crib mobile turn on (baby’s version of an alarm, I suppose!) and Neal waking the little guy up and changing his diaper.

6:00am- I go into Austin’s room and greet my sleepy-eyed, hair-tussled booger bean. I pick out his outfit for the day and talk to him while I get him all cute for the day.

6:05am- downstairs we go…. Austin gets his morning bottle, and I pack my lunch and get Austin’s solid foods together for the day and usually make coffee.

6:15-6:30am- last minute getting ready and packing for the day. Austin gets play time and usually has a monumental poop at this time that takes both of us to clean up and keep him from getting his hands in his own mess.

6:35am- finally out the door into the cars for good-bye kisses… then we’re off!

6:35-7:05am- morning commute. Austin jabbers away in the backseat while we listen to NPR.

7:05-7:15am- I drop him off at school and try and get him to cuddle me for a bit before I go over to work but he’s always too busy with his friends to pay me much attention.

7:15-11:30am- work. Yippee skippy

11:30-12:30am- If I’m not slammed I’ll go visit Austin at lunch and usually get spit up on in my work clothes

12:30-4:30pm- more work. Blah blah.

4:30pm- pick up my little man at school. I get his daily “report card” and get to read about all his adventures that day.

4:40-5:25pm- afternoon commute home. Austin usually screams all the way home because he refuses to nap at school so at this point he is beyond exhausted and doesn’t want to be in his car seat. On good days he falls asleep.

5:30-6:30pm: If Neal is home, Austin gets play time with Daddy while I make dinner and do some cleaning/picking up. If Austin and I are on our own, we play and I try to pick up while Austin races around in his walker, slamming into things… mostly my ankles. Some days we go visit Kenzie and Barrett and get a fun night with our besties!

6:30-7:00pm- if we are both home we make a point to sit down and eat dinner as a family. Austin loves chicken, cheese, sweet potatoes, and smears them all over himself, his chair, and us.

7:15-7:30pm- high chair and kitchen clean-up and our little mess goes straight up to get a bath. Most nights it would be easier to just hose him off. Henry proceeds to clean the floor under the high chair.

7:30pm- bath done, into jammies and downstairs to play some more and get really tired before bed.

8:00pm- bedtime. The latest we let him stay up is 8:30pm. I’m not super strict about “schedules” but bedtime is one area I try to stick to my guns. With two full time working parents, we really want to try and raise Austin to be a good sleeper so we are sticklers to the bedtime rule. So far, we’ve had good luck with it…

8:00-8:45pm- Neal and I’s “adult time.” This usually is made up of cleaning the kitchen, picking up, some TV, some conversation and then surrendering to the fact that we are exhausted.

8:45-9:30pm- I read in bed, Neal sometimes watches TV, but we are parents to a baby. So who are we kidding??? Its lights out by 9:30pm for us!

Then we hit the repeat button and do it all again!

The thoughts in my mind this Monday....

-We are having a real Indian Summer in Oregon… yesterday got up to the 80’s. The neighbor kids were carving pumpkins in their front yard in bathing suits. I am kinda over the heat. It’s October. I want to be cozy and wear sweaters and scarves. Neal shoots me a look every time I mention how I want it hurry up and get cold already!

-I almost just spilled my coffee! Ack! Liquid gold!!

-I just turned my Coach’s Wife blog into a book! I should have taken a picture of it.. but it turned out so super cool! Any bloggers out there, I used blog2print.sharedbook.com to print it. It’s hard-covered, with my blog title on the spine, all my posts are the table of contents, and you can choose different designs, layouts and what posts you want to print. I figured this was a great way to turn my online journal into a real journal we can look back on and read over the years.

                **reasons why making a blog book is totally awesome (in my humble opinion)

1.       If the Internet ever goes ka-put when the world ends later this year, all your hard work and writing is preserved in printing for alien life forms to discover when they land on the earth after said apocalypse.

2.       I got to delete my Coach’s Wife blog. So I no longer have private pics or info just floating around cyber space

3.       I can force people to look at it when they come over to dinner and tell me I’m funny.

-I’m sorry, but I just don’t get Maroon 5. Why are they so popular? His voice just rubs me all kinds of the wrong way and makes me slightly twitchy.

-this is my current view every time I look down. Someone is into hanging on Mama and trying to pants her.

-one huge advantage to having a crazy active mobile baby- weight loss. I’ve lost 5lbs since Austin started moving around. Hello all my pre-preggo jeans! I’ve missed you!!!!

-losing 5lbs justified me making chocolate chip cookies yesterday. Hey, any reason to justify cookies works in my book…

-is it Friday yet? 

-they just played this song like 10 mins ago. Radio stations suck sometimes.

-Random lists are quite fun... I think I need to do this more often!

8 is Great!!!!! Months, that is...

Its that time again?

A whole other month has passed us by… this kid will be in high school before I know it.

He better chose nice people to date.

If not, we are going to have a chat.

Anyways..

Here is Austin the 8-month-old!

-weighs a bit over 21lbs. And absolutely loves sitting on our scale to get weighed. If only we could all be so enthusiastic about the scale.

-wears mainly 12 month sized clothes.

-Stands, stands and stands; whenever he can. Our job as parents has turned into being spotter as we follow him around the house and just sit behind him as he stands at the couch, loveseat, wall, highchair, bar chair, dishwasher, etc. He stands for hours and just wiggles around, and smacks his hands on things.

 -can cruise furniture and has walked all the way around the ottoman.

-can propel himself while standing from one object to another. He can get from the couch to the ottoman, or from the ottoman to the coffee table. 

-likes to bend down while he’s standing and touch the floor and pick up objects.

-walks with his musical walker by himself! He’s wobbly because he tries to dance while he walks and shakes his little butt as he’s toddling along. Cutest thing ever!

-has decided he doesn’t want to nap anymore at school. For the past 2 weeks he’s sleep maybe an hour total all day at school. He just doesn’t want to stop playing to sleep.

 -still sleeps through the night

-is cutting 4 top teeth all at once. His front two have a gap in them, just like his Daddy!!!

-has started to share. He likes to offer me his binky. He even stuck it in my mouth one day.

-loves food but is having trouble with texture. He gags and spits out anything with chunks, and  just plays with finger food and doesn’t get any of it in his mouth. Moving up from puree’s is going to be a slow process for this one.

-Loves to go shopping and sit up in the cart.

-had his first balloon

-has learned to crawl on hands and knees and is getting fast already!

-wants Mommy when he’s hurt or not feeling good and will follow me around fussing. Sometimes he just wants to be held.

-wants nothing to do with Mommy when he’s at school busy with his little friends and exploring

-has figured out how to move in his walker and now zooms around the house. He’ll run into the door stop things, hear the “schprrooongg!” noise and look down and stare at it like “what the hell was that thing?”

-If he's crawling around though, he knows what that door stopper is and loves it!

-smarty-pants has learned what his monitor is, and what the camera does. If he isn’t ready for bed he grabs the camera and stares into it… I can’t help it, I crack up every time!

 -HATES to be confined. He has a limit on how long he’ll handle his car seat.. it’s about an hour. Then he wants OUT. And lets you know! He does not handle going on walks after work very well either because he doesn’t like going from buckled in his seat to buckled in his stroller.

-Is obsessed with the dog and wants to be near him or looking at him all the time.

-is very busy, still a tornado and is not content unless he is moving, moving, or moving. NOT the "sit still and examine a toy" type at all. More like the "bang the toy, shove toy in the mouth, then throw toy and crawl off to another more exciting thing" type. He's going to be a thrill-seeker I think.. always looking for the next thrill in life!

-says "Mama" and knows that word means me. He crawls toward me saying it, climbs up my leg, and will put his head on my chest when I hold him.. all while saying "Mama." Yeah.. it kills me. :-)